By Danny Serratelli at Ringside for DoghouseBoxing.com (March 20, 2006)
James Toney and Hasim Rahman fought a close fight on just about everyone in the building’s scorecard (except maybe judge John Stewart who had it 117-111 Rahman). For the most part, the decision as to who won each round appeared to weigh on whether James Toney’s quality work was enough to outdo Hasim Rahman’s quantity of work. In the end the judge’s scorecards read, 117-111 for Hasim Rahman and a 114-114 draw on the other two judge’s cards.
At the end of 12 rounds my card read 115-114 for Hasim Rahman and most of press row had the fight even or a point or two either way. It appeared that Toney, who is believed by most to be the technically superior fighter, underachieved, and Rahman overachieved. Rahman outworked Toney for most of the bout, and entered the fight as the WBC’s heavyweight champion. This is probably why more people may have favored Rahman despite a consensus that a leaner more motivated looking Toney would have fared better.
A closer look at the 3 judge’s scorecards shows that everyone had trouble scoring the fight in which almost every round was a close one. There was very little consistency on the three judge’s cards. While two judges came to the same conclusion, a 114-114 draw, how they got there was very different. In fact the scorecard that seemed the most troubling was not the 117-111 scored by Judge Stewart, but the 114-114 by Judge Uratani Nobuaki. He gave 5 of the first 6 rounds to Rahman and 5 of the final 6 to Toney.
From ringside James Toney appeared to come out and win more of the early rounds. He was crafty and slick for the first few rounds and did excellent work on the inside. It appeared early that while Hasim came to fight and was busier, Toney was doing the damage and was picking his spots nicely. However, coming in at 237 pounds appeared to hurt James Toney.
After the first few rounds it looked like it was Toney’s fight to lose. However, Rahman was clearly the more conditioned fighter, and was very determined to keep his title, despite Toney’s apparent superior skill. After the first few rounds it looked like Toney either knew he didn’t have what he needed in the tank, or was convinced that he was going to knock Rahman out with a big right hand. He missed the big right several times, but also timed it perfectly, and landed it several times. However, he still couldn’t back Rahman up.
According to punchstat numbers, Rahman only landed 16 more punches in the fight, but he threw 300 more and had more left in the late rounds. He was the busier fighter all night, and that apparently won several of the close rounds for him. Toney’s effectiveness did not go unnoticed. Despite the fact that Rahman outworked him, he would have won a split decision and the WBC heavyweight title in the process if he would have won the 12th round. As it turned out Rahman needed to win the 12th round to get the draw, and retain his title. In fact Rahman swept the cards in the 12th round, a round in which Toney admitted he was tired.
Afterwards, both fighters showed a lot of class and respect for each other. In fact when the day comes when James Toney gets inducted into the hall of fame, he may want to call Rahman to give a speech. Toney said Rahman hit him the hardest he’d been hit in 16 years, since he fought Merqui Sosa. Rahman said he thought Toney hit harder than Evander Holyfield. Rahman further stated that he wasn’t afraid to admit that he learned a thing or two; he was a fan of Toney when he was a super-middleweight and that he fought one of the greatest fighters ever.
Toney clearly wants a rematch and Rahman said he would gladly oblige, but Bob Arum said it was up to the WBC. After a little discussion over a potential rematch, and after Toney saying, “We’re not like these Germans and Russians, we like to fight, there’s not gonna be a white heavyweight champ”, Oleg Maskaev’s promoter Dennis Rappaport, jumped from his seat and stated that Maskaev is the number one contender and was next in line to fight for Rahman’s WBC belt and will fight to enforce their right to the title fight.
A fight between Maskaev and Rahman is interesting considering Maskaev knocked Rahman out back in 1999. Maskaev is also 10-0 with 8 KO’s over the last 4 years. Rahman said he is open to whatever the people want and both Rahman and Toney stated, “If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense”. Both veterans say the belts are nice to have, but they want the money fights.
Undercard:
Undefeated junior-welterweight Dmitriy Salita 24-0-1, 14 KO’s came out of an 8 round fight with a draw with tough opponent Ramon Montano, 10-3-2, 1 KO. Scores were 75-74 Salita, 76-74 Montano, and 75-75. There was some questionable scoring in this one after Salita was dropped twice in round one and barely survived the round.
Super-middleweights- Chuck Mussachio, 6-0, 3 KO’s (Majority Decision 40-36, 39-37, 38-38) over Edward Hemphill, 3-3, 1 KO.
Heavyweights- Tony Thompson, 27-1, 17 KO’s (KO 4, 2:54) over Maurice Wheeler 10-5-1, 1 KO.
Heavyweights- Travis Kaufman, 3-0, 3 KO’s (KO 1, 2:27) over Robert Bell, 2-2, 2 KO’s.
Junior-welterweights- Vincent Arroyo, 4-0, 3 KO’s (TKO 4, 1:55) over Adam Czacher 2-3.
Super-bantamweights- Suzannah Warner, 3-3, 2 KO’s (Majority Decision 4, 39-37, 39-37, 38-38) over previously undefeated Noriko Kariya 3-1.
Light-heavyweights- Bobby Rooney, 5-2-1, 3 KO’s (draw, 39-37 Rooney, 38-38 twice) Derrick Sierra, 1-4-3, 1 KO.